What is drip irrigation? Well, it really is what the name indicates. It’s watering a plant slowly by dripping water on over a period of time. Our drip irrigation tube, which is the black tube running under the trees or in amongst the pumpkin plants, is what provides the plants with water and even fertilizer when it is needed. 
I can rely on natural rain, but there are times when our plants require more than what a good rain shower can offer. One of my first priorities after planting new apple or peach trees is to install the irrigation. The new trees do not have a huge root system, and cannot extend their roots fast enough to provide the tree with adequate water. The more the tree grows each year the sooner I am able to allow the tree to produce fruit. Economically, it is very important to keep the trees growing strong while they are young and that often includes watering and fertilizing. 
There are benefits to watering directly on the ground as opposed to sprinklers or overhead irrigation.
- Less water is lost due to evaporation.
- Often times the wind can prevent sprinklers from getting adequate coverage.
- Overhead irrigation can transmit spores from fungus throughout the plant. By using drip irrigation I can reduce the number of crop protectants needed to protect against fungus.
- Much less labor and machinery are needed to operate a drip irrigation system as opposed to an over head irrigation gun. A tractor is required to run a pump to pump the water from our pond into the irrigator, and lots of labor is needed to move irrigation pipe and machinery.
- Also, the well that I use for the drip irrigation system is be monitored for bacterial issues whereas a farm pond can possess possible risks.
- Liquid Nitrogen can be added through the system to feed the trees or pumpkins.
I use a venturi system that relies on a vacuum to inject liquid nitrogen fertilizer into the flow of water. This system enables me to “fertigate” a little each week, or spoon feed the trees as they need it. It helps prevent too much nitrogen from being lost and leached into the groundwater. The system also has a back flow prevention device that prevents any nitrogen from going back down into the well. The well is located over 100 feet from the venturi system to reduce contamination of the well if there ever were a spill of nitrogen. These safety measures are installed and maintained to help protect our very valuable ground water.
I use a tank to bring small amounts of liquid nitrogen to the venturi system each week. I store the tank of liquid nitrogen in our barn which was specifically built with a floor to prevent spills from leaching into the ground water. There will be more about our special barn with containment pad in another blog. The small tube (seen in the above picture) is put into the tank and the venturi system sucks the nitrogen into the water flow fertilizing the selected rows of trees. The variety, age of the tree, and leaf samples from the trees will determine the amount of fertilizer required for a specific variety. A leaf sample can be taken during the growing season and analyzed for many different nutrients. My program is altered based on the analyses and also how the tree is actually growing.
Most of the apple tree rows are over 1,000 feet long and I use special pressure compensating emitters inside the tube. These emitters will provide the same amount of water from the beginning of the row to the end of the row regardless of pressure change. This ensures that each tree is watered or fertilized equally. This tube is installed at planting time and remains there throughout the life of the tree.
I also use drip irrigation for the pumpkins.
The picture above shows my vacuum seed planter which is planting the pumpkin seeds into a “zone,” (8 inches of tilled soil in amongst the straw mulch). The large roll on the back of the planter is what I call T-Tape. It is a disposable plastic tube with small holes that will irrigate the pumpkins when needed. As the planter moves along the roll unwinds the tube along the row as I plant. I can use this tube to water and fertilize if necessary. I’m finding that with the straw mulch I use in our reduced tillage system, I don’t need to water as much. The mulch helps the soil retain the moisture and requires less irrigation. I do have plans to eliminate the use of T-Tape in the pumpkins as long as I have enough fertilizer available for the pumpkins throughout the growing season. Through the use of vetch, which is a legume that provides active nitrogen, and slow release fertilizers I think I will accomplish this soon. I just worry when we have one of those really dry summers. Will there be enough moisture to keep the plants growing? If I can eliminate the use of the T-Tape I will reduce the amount of plastic going into the land fill.
The use of drip irrigation has made things much more efficient and safer for our crops and environment.
